The Dragon Slayer and The Celestial Mage
by XxRaven210Xx
Summary: After a battle against Zeref, Natsu enters his matting season. When he tries to claim Lucy as his mate, something goes wrong, and a happy ending for Natsu and Lucy seems like only a dream, Can the pair overcome great odds to achieve what they both want? Rated M for lemon. Na-Lu all the way all day.
1. Chapter 1- A Warm Heart

The story takes place after the Grand Magic Games arc, and after the special episode/filler where Natsu and Lucy babysit Aska. I've seen a couple other stories about dragon slayers and their marl or whatever, but I don't read the manga so I have no idea if it's cannon. Anyhow, enjoy, and no spoilers please in the comments! Thanks!

A Warm Heart

~ Magnolia Hot Springs

"So, Lu Chan, did Natsu really try to kiss you? Happy was talking to Carla about it earlier today. Apparently you were on a mission with Natsu and Asuka, and she told him to kiss you. Care to elaborate?" Lucy sunk in deeper to the steaming hot springs. With only her head above the water, Lucy looked across her fellow guild mates who were all giving her a deadly stare while awaiting her answer. She didn't mind the quality time she got to spend with her fellow female guild mates, but she hated how the topic of the conversation always manages to gear its way towards her and Natsu.

"Come on Lucy, out with it. You two have been watering at the mouth for each other for some time now. Besides, I'm starting to crave another drink or two so stop stalling." Lucy turned her head away from Cana, who was well past the safe level of intoxication.

Lucy let out a sigh across the spring water. "Well I don't think he meant anything by it. Besides, he was just keeping his word to Asuka. I doubt he would try to kiss me if the circumstances were any different." Lucy's voice trailed off as she wondered if she was trying to convince her friends or herself about the meaning of Natsu's action.

Standing up, still dressed in her standard armor, Erza put her hand on the blondes head and brought her face into contact with her breast plate. "If there is anything we all know about Natsu, it's the fact that he's always intense with anything when it involves you Lucy." Trying to ignore the throbbing sensation of pain emitting from her face, Lucy pushed her self off of Erza's chest. Lucy knew that there was some truth to what Erza said. Thinking back to Natsu leaning close to her, with his eyes closed, his face so peaceful, and his lips puckered ready to embrace her own lips, Lucy started to blush and sighed.

Mira moved through the water to draw closer to Lucy and tilted her head to the side and let a wide smile spread across her face. "Well did you want him to kiss you? You two are awfully close as it is. He spends the night at your apartment all the time. I would have figured the two of you would have already kissed by now. In fact I'm surprised that the two of you haven't…" Knowing what Mira was going to say next, Lucy jumped towards her and covered her mouth.

With her face steaming red and her voice filled with a combination of rage and embarrassment Lucy screamed out, "I would NEVER do that with Natsu! We're just friends and were partners! His attempt at a kiss didn't mean anything!"

Not buying Lucy's rant at all, Levy, the bluenette, let out a high pitch chuckle. "It's okay Lu Chan. Even though Natsu is kind of wild and destructive you don't have to hide how you feel about him."

Lucy had heard enough. She stood up and covered her chest with her arms. With more frustration and irritation in her voice, Lucy scolded her friends. "SO Levy, why don't we talk about how you totally have a thing for Gajeel, and Erza, did you forget that Natsu has incredible hearing skills? He told me, Happy, and Gray everything about what he heard from your little _episode_ with Jellal before the Grand Magic Games." Feeling that she had successfully gotten even for her friends embarrassing her, Lucy walked out of the hot springs and into the ladies dressing room.

The blonde took out two towels from her locker and used one to wrap up her body and another to warp up her hair. She reached for her clothes and her gate keys, but she saw the tattered leather book she had been carrying around for a few weeks now. She had been filling the book with everything she could remember about the book she found lying of the ground during the battle with the dragons. The book that belonged to her future self.

Not that she wanted to relive or remember the experiences if that horrific event. Rather she wanted to remind her self how lucky she is. She watched herself die, for the sake of protecting her future. She saw how Natsu reacted to her future self's death. The look in his eyes, his words, and the way he fought to protect her future. Lucy wanted to remember just how precious her life is, and how hard her best friend tried to protect it. She wanted to be able to remind herself, how lucky she is to be able to be a part of Fairy Tail and to be able to have all the friends that she has.

When she came across the book during the dragon invasion, it clarified a couple of her thoughts. Her first thought, was that in her future self's timeline, Natsu died. The way that future Lucy looked at him, the way she reacted when Natsu talked to her, and how quickly she was over flowing with tears after he thanked her for saving his future, it all pointed towards the truth that "her" Natsu had died. While reading the book, Lucy read the words from her future self that vividly described the death of her best friend. How he fought off dozens of Dragons while forcing her future self to run. How her future self witnessed him get impaled by a poison dragon, and died from the impact.

Her other main though, was that Fairy Tail had fallen during the battle with the dragons. Seeing the empty hand of her future self proved that. While she read the book, she read the detailed deaths of nearly all of her friends. The deaths of Erza, Mira, Cana, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel and many, many more. The thought of losing any of her fellow guild mates nearly brought Lucy to tears, but it gave her incentive to spend less time devoted to herself and more time with her friends.

That's how she ended up at the hot springs with all of her fellow lady friends. But, it somehow turned into a gossip festival that was trying to create something out of nothing with her best friend, yet she still felt bad for getting mad at her friends for some light teasing. Lucy sighed and got dressed. She tied her keys onto her belt and tucked her book under her belt. She put her hair up into pig tails, and decided that she should apologize.

Lucy left the locker rooms and slid open the door that led to the hot springs. Before she could say anything, she noticed all of the girls swarming around Erza. Lucy assumed they were all pestering her about Jellal. Lucy stated to laugh under her breath and waved bye towards her friends.

"Bye everyone I'm heading home for the night!" Lucy turned and started to walk away and her guild mates shouted out a synchronized "Good night Lucy!"

~On the way to her apartment

The night sky was illuminated with countless stars, and the town was started to grow quite as it drew late. Lucy sighed and decided to summon up Plue to keep her company as she walked.

Balancing on the ledge by the river than ran through Magnolia, Lucy walked with Plue trailing close behind.

"Am I overreacting Plue? I mean, this _is_ Natsu were talking about here. Sure he's done a couple of sweet things for me. But, he couldn't actually have like real feelings for me. I don't think he even knows what it means to kiss someone. He's just so oblivious about some things. I doubt he's even mature enough to understand how relationships work."

As if asking her to elaborate, Plue responded with a simple "Plue?"

"Well, he's not totally immature. Just a little wild. The whole thing where he let Bisca's daughter beat him at shooting was pretty sweet of him. Then there's the way he protects everyone in the guild. Wait, why am even talking about him like this? UGH!" Lucy flailed her arms and almost fell into the water.

Two men on a small boat called out to Lucy, "Be careful Lucy!" Lucy looked up towards the men and sighed as they floated down the river. The only thought running through her mind was how she let Natsu control her evening and night when he wasn't even there.

Having reached her apartment, Lucy sent Plue back to the celestial world and opened her front door.

~Lucy's room

After changing into her pajamas, which consisted of an oversized button up pink long sleeve shirt and a pair of small black shorts that weren't visible due to her shirt. She let her hair down and reached to turn off her light lacrima. She walked over to her bed and slid under the covers. She tried to pull her blankets over her body, but they were stuck on something. While trying to pry her covers free, she heard the sound of someone snoring. Knowing just who it was, Lucy pulled her covers off of the bed only to find Natsu sound asleep under on her bed.

Well, that's it for chapter one! Main pairing is going to focus on NatsuxLucy with some minor GajeelxLevy, GrayxJuvia, and JellalxErza. The plot is going to expand from just small story with Natsu and Lucy, and I want to use a protagonist that's not an OC. I only watch the anime so I'm thinking of using Zeref and creating my own ending to Fairy Tail with him as the final antagonist. How does that sound? Well leave comments and I will update again this week! Probably going to stick with two chapters a week, and I'm thinking of starting a Sword Art Online Fan Fiction as well!


	2. Chapter 2- Faith in a Hero

Well I didn't plan on dropping the new chapter so soon, but school is already over for the spring semester. So, I have a lot more spare time on my hands. I don't plan on having any "sketchy" activities happen right out of the gate, but no promises on that. From here on out the chapters are going to get a little lengthier because I want to provide a little more details and emotions from the characters. Well, with no further wait, enjoy! Also, thanks for the follows and all reviews are welcome!

Faith in a Hero

~Lucy's bedroom

Natsu was in a state of sleep that Lucy had only seen him in after he ate etherion at the Tower of Heaven. He looked so worn out, and despite his destructive nature, he actually looked peaceful. Lucy let a smile spread across her tired face as she took in the sight of the dragon slayer. Letting out a grunt as if he knew someone was trying to wake him up, Natsu rolled over onto his face to the middle of Lucy's bed.

Slowly standing up behind Natsu, was no other than his blue haired friend, Happy. Rubbing his eyes, happy whined, "Natsu, roll back over, it's too cold without the blankets. I need your body heat." Lucy managed to shake her trance from the sight of the sleeping dragon slayer and was now irritated. Having a not so very pleasant evening at the hot springs was one thing. Finding an exhausted Natsu in her bed was something that she almost grew accustomed to. But, the fact that Happy didn't even care that she was standing literally a few feet away was a little too much for the celestial mage to take.

Before Lucy could open her mouth to go on a rant, she saw Happy rubbing Natsu's head as if he was sick. Lucy looked to Natsu and noticed that he was actually shivering, and letting out quite sounds as if his body was cramping.

No longer angered, Lucy asked Happy, "Hey is something wrong with Natsu? He almost never shivers." She felt a trace of worry in her voice and fought her body's natural habit of blushing whenever she displayed any emotion.

Still rubbing Natsu with his paw, Happy responded without looking away from Natsu, "He's been sleeping like this the past couple of days. He's been training to be able to use his flame-lightning dragon slayer mode with more ease. But, it hasn't been going to well, he's only able to use it for an attack or two before it wears off."

Remembering Natsu bursting into rage and launching a full power blow at Future Rouge after he killed Future Lucy, (present time) Lucy almost forgot to breathe. She thought to herself, Natsu with just his fire dragon slayer magic was one of the most deadly wizards throughout Fiore, but whenever he uses his flame-lightning mode, there aren't that many people who can oppose him.

Momentarily escaping her thoughts, with a puzzled expression that Happy didn't see, she asked "Wait, but if trying to use it too often does this to him, why does he keep trying?"

"He won't tell me, he's been training with it for a couple hours a day. He's been exhausted, I'm surprised he still manages to go on missions. He sure is the tough."

"Yeah, I guess he is." Still, not fully understanding why Natsu would put his body through so much pain, a new question emerged in Lucy's head. "Wait, why did you two come here anyways?"

Happy removed his hand from Natsu's spiky pink hair and extended his arms into the air to stretch. Letting out a high pitch yawn, he responded, "He wanted to come see you and ask you something. He wouldn't tell me what it is, but I guess it's important because he was worn out after today's training."

Lucy looked away from Happy to hide her blush. Thinking to herself, she wondered why Natsu would go to such extreme measures to see her when he could just have waiting for tomorrow. Remembering Erza telling her that Natsu is always extreme when it comes to things involving herself, caused Lucy to violently shake her head so she could get the thoughts out of her head.

Deciding that it would be a little rude to try to get the two _intruders_ to leave while it was already late at night, she decided to let them stay. "Well, for this once I guess you two can stay here, it's already late and I would feel bad for making you two leave while it's so dark out."

Lucy started to scan the room to find a place where she could lie down for the night. However, the yells of a certain cat brought her trail of thought. "It's already night time!? I promised Wendy and Carla I would take them fishing!"

In a frenzied manner, Happy jumped onto Lucy's window ledge and slid the glass open. Waving his paw while stepping out the window, the cat shouted out, "Bye Lucy, take care of Natsu! Tell him I'll meet him at our house tomorrow!"

Before Lucy could complain about being stuck with an out cold dragon slayer, Happy was long gone soaring through the sky. Letting out a sigh, she complained out loud, 'He could have at least closed the window".

Lucy propped her knee on the ledge of the mattress to get in a better position to close the window. Making only small movements so she wouldn't wake her sleeping partner, she eased her hands to the window and quietly slid it shut. Easing her way off of the bed, she began to ponder and were she would sleep yet again. The thought of sharing a bed with her partner crossed her mind and her face burned red with embarrassment. She violently shook her head again and pushed both of her hands to her face. Quietly whispering to herself, "That would be totally inappropriate. What would he think if he woke up and saw me lying next to him? I know that I would make a big deal out of it, besides were just partners…"

Lucy's monologue was cut short when Natsu rolled over onto his back. She looked at her partner and he looked like he was burning up. She saw a small amount of sweat forming on his forehead, but it was quickly evaporating. Lucy decided that she should at least try to do something to help him feel more comfortable. After everything he's done for her, it would only be common courtesy.

Walking into her kitchen, she turned on her water faucet and soaked a rag with cold water. Squeezing the excess water out of the cloth, she turned off the faucet and made her way towards her bed. She sat down next to Natsu and gently placed the rag along his forehead. After placing the rag, her hand naturally made its way to his hair and she began running her fingers through his hair. Natsu's breathing stabilized and his body began to relax.

After staring at his peaceful sleeping body for an amount of time she didn't realize, Lucy realized she had been playing with his hair. She pulled her hand away and quickly blushed. Reaching to the floor adjacent to her bed, she pulled up the blankets that she had previously thrown, and wrapped herself in them. It won't be that weird if I sleep next to him right? It's not like were cuddling or anything like that. So it's fine then. Just two friends sleeping on the same bed. Not weird at all.

Lucy looked into Natsu's sleeping face, and whispered to him, "Goodnight Natsu." She rolled over so that the front of her body was no longer facing him. She closed her eyes and began to think about the faith she had in him during his battle against Sting and Rouge. She smiled and her breathing slowed to a steady quite rhythm. She had fallen asleep next to her best friend.

~Slightly after sunrise in Lucy's bedroom

Lucy eased her eyes open and slowly sat up. Letting the covers fall off of her body, she extended her arms into the air and let out a squeal like yawn. She felt some liquid on the corner of her mouth. She realized that she must have been drooling, and she wiped it off with the sleeve of her pajamas. She rubbed her eyes and looked over her room and saw that the sun had risen. She sighed, and removed the covers from her lower body.

Before she could get off of her bed, a familiar voice froze her in her tracks. "Morning Luce!"

Lucy slowly turned her head towards Natsu. As if her neck had been rusted over, her movements were jagged as she brought her gaze to meet her partners. The events of the previous night's events came flooding back to her. She had fallen asleep next to her best friend. But, that was it, nothing else happened. It was just two friends sleeping near each other.

Trying to hide her embarrassment of being seen right after waking up, she replied to her partner, "Oh, um, good morning Natsu". The dragon slayer was looking at her with a peaceful look in his eyes. Lucy started to blush, "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

Natsu looked away from her and began to scratch his cheek. "Nope, there's nothing there. You just look um I guess different when you're sleeping." He looked back towards her and saw that she was turning red. "Hey Lucy your all red, are you getting sick or something?" He put the back or his hand on her forehead and left it there trying to determine if she was running a fever.

"Nope, no fever. But, if it's not a fever, then why are you all red?" Natsu leaned in close to Lucy. Their faces were mere centimeters apart. Lucy nearly stopped breathing and slowly leaned back from her friend.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" She tried to take eyes away from Natsu's gaze, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She felt her heart fluttering in her chest and her face felt like it was actually burning. "Natsu why are you getting so close to me?"

Ignoring her question, Natsu leaned even closer to her face. They were no further than a centimeter apart. "Hmmm, Lucy, you have bags under your eyes."

Now feeling irritated with her partner, she pushed him away and let out an irritated moan. Wanting to get her mind off of their recent proximity, she remembered that Natsu had originally invaded her apartment to ask her a question.

"Anyways, Happy said you came over here to ask me something, so what's up?" She felt a little cheesy for actually asking him "what's up", but she shook quickly it off.

Natsu looked out of the window and stared out onto the view of Magnolia from her window. Lucy couldn't read the expression on his face. It was like he was lost in thought, but she could tell that he was being serious for once.

"Luce, the way that your future self looked at all of us, and spoke with all of us. It was obvious that we lost to the dragons after the Grand Magic Games. But, in particular, the way she looked at me, and the way she cried when I tried to comfort her. It was like she already heard me make her the promise to protect her, but if the future I promised to protect her, that means that I didn't keep my promise." He turned his gaze towards Lucy, and she saw that he was actually in pain. Not a physical pain but emotional pain.

"Natsu..." Lucy let her voice trail off. She didn't know what else to say.

Natsu raised his hand out and held it in the stop position. "Don't say anything Luce. Not yet." Lucy simply nodded in compliance.

"When I saw your future self die, something inside of me snapped. I don't know what would happen if I were to actually lose you. You said that you believed in me when I fought Sting and Rouge with Gajeel. But, did you believe in me when the dragons came through the gate? Or would you believe in me against a stronger opponent like Acnologia or Zeref?"

Lucy stood up off of the bed, but before she could tell him that she would never stop believing in him, Natsu grabbed her hand. Lucy blushed as he turned her hand over to reveal the Fairy Tail emblem.

"Lucy, I promise to you that I won't fail in protecting you or the guild. My future self and my current self failed future Lucy. But, I still have you in front of me, and I promise that I won't let you feel pain like your future self had to".

Tears started to form around Lucy's eyes. "Natsu… I will always…"

Lucy's front door slammed open and Gray barged in. His forehead was covered in veins. Lucy quickly pulled her hand away from Natsu's and whipped the tears from her eyes.

With a true sense of urgency in his voice, Gray nearly shouted out, "Natsu, Lucy, we have trouble. A message just arrived from Gildarts. Master gave us a mission to do a.s.a.p. Meet us at the guild hall when you're ready." Realizing that he probably barged in at the wrong moment, Gray quickly left and closed the door behind him.

Natsu stood up cracked his knuckles. Lucy didn't want the let the chance slip away, so she embraced Natsu from behind. Natsu started to blush, "Luce? What are you doing?"

Burying her face into his back, she meekly responded, "I will always faith in you to protect our future Natsu. I already told you that since I first met you I believed in you. I won't ever stop believing in you."

~Well that's it for chapter two! If y'all remember, before the Grand Magic Games, Gildarts left to have some time alone or something like that. So what could possibly have caused him to send an urgent message to the guild? All reviews and questions are welcomed in the review section! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3-The Return of the Black Wizard

~ Alrighty then here's the next chapter! My biggest pet peeve when it comes to Fairy Tail is, how the whole Nalu factor gets ignored too often during action related parts. So, I now make a declaration to not do a terrible job with Nalu moving forward. I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 3- Return of the Black Wizard

~Two days ago, Outside of the town 'Summerset', a small town that's three days away from Magnolia V.I.A. train

"Rogue! We have to use it now!" The shadow dragon slayer nodded in compliance. The twin slayers stood side by side and simultaneously activated they're strongest form of dragon slayer magic, dragon force.

Standing in front of the twin slayers, stood a man dressed in a large black coat. The collar extended around the sides of his face and his eyes were covered by his black bangs. The forest around him and decayed and fallen apart from the mysterious man's dark magic.

The man looked towards the sky and revealed his eyes. His eyes were jet black and bore the pain of a thousand years of misery.

With his dragon force emitting a white aura from his body, Sting called out to his comrade, "Rogue, we have to do something quick. This guy isn't even taking us serious." Sting looked to his comrade, who was clearly exhausted and out of breath.

Whipping a small trace of blood from his lip, Rogue called out to his comrade, "Sting, I heard him say Acnologia. We have to find out what we can. If that dragon were to appear again, it would be the end of us. It defeated nearly all of Fairy Tail by itself." Sting's body went numb as he let the name, Acnologia, sink in.

The man before them turned his gaze towards the twin dragons. His eyes turned from black to a crimson red that showed a thirst for bloodshed. In a steady, but fierce voice, the man called out to the skies, "This era is over. The final chapter shall end, starting with you two." The man raised his hand towards the twin dragons.

Forcing his damaged body towards his friend, Rogue whispered, "Sting, he just said this era is over. The only time I can remembering hearing that is from the records of the events on Tenrou Island. This dark magic, his overwhelming power, the mention of Acnologia, it all matches up to the reports from Tenrou."

"Even if that's the case, we have no idea who this is. We need to create a diversion to get away." Sting started to charge up his magic power in his hands, and Rogue did the same.

The man dressed in black, otherwise known as Zeref, started to emit darkness in his hand. "I'll start with you two. The blood of dragons that you two have bathed in disgusts me. Lost arts: Absolute Darkness".

A wave of darkness spiraled from Zeref's hand and crashed into the two dragon slayers. After the destruction cleared, Zeref was nowhere to be found, but the twin dragons were left in critical condition.

~Fairy Tail guild hall

"Natsu, come on! Everyone is probably waiting on us! Gray said that something important relating to Gildarts. I figured you of all people would be more than fired up to find out what he's been up to. " Lucy was trying to pull Natsu away from a meat wagon that was stationed outside the guild doors.

Trying to pull his hand away from Lucy's, Natsu argued back, "But Lucy I'm starving! Besides, I doubt Happy saved me anything from his fishing trip! I can't enter that place without a full stomach! Everyone is going to hear my stomach growl!" Taking a momentary break from dragging Natsu by his hand, Lucy let go of his hand and crossed her arms. She looked Natsu in the face and slammed her foot the ground and stated to pout with her body language. Natsu let out a small chuckle at the sight of Lucy's childish behavior, but he tried continued to plead his case, "But Lucy! Come on, just one Vulcan leg! I'll even get you one!"

Completely uninterested in his offer, Lucy took Natsu's hand and pulled him to the guild hall doors. As Lucy barged through the doors, she was greeted by a silent guild hall. Master Makarov was sitting on the bar top counter, while Mira was in her usual spot behind the bar. The rest of the guild was gathered around Makarov.

Looking back at the late arriving pair, Gray commented out loud, "Took you two long enough". Moving his gaze down to Lucy's hand, Gray noticed that she was leading Natsu in by his hand. Feeling that this was as good of a time as ever, Gray called out to the rest of the guild, "Well I suppose we can all guess why these two are late."

A synchronized laugh spread throughout the guild hall, and Lucy looked at her friends trying to decipher the meaning of Gray's comments. Following Gray's eyes, Lucy saw that she was still holding onto Natsu's hand. She quickly blushed and let go. "It's not what it looks like! He was trying to go grab some food off of this meat wagon and I was pulling him away from it! That's it!"

Several comments emerged from the guild members, and they all had a tone of sarcasm as they claimed to believe Lucy's statement. Makarov started to intentionally cough to regain the attention of his guild.

Sitting on the bar top, being unmoved by the sight of Natsu and Lucy, Makarov raised his arm and the guild returned to its silent state. Feeling the intensity in the room, Natsu and Lucy approached the rest of the guild in silence.

Makarov cleared his throat and lowered his hand. "Ever since the Grand Magic Games, a few things have become very clear. First and foremost, was the fact that not a single dragon slayer was able to defeat a dragon in a battle of dragon magic. This has created some buzz around the magic council and the magic community. Knowing that Acnologia is still somewhere out there, can easily be taken as a sign of the end of humanity as we know it. Perhaps the future that Future Rouge spoke of is unavoidable… Secondly, Natsu, after we returned from Tenrou Island, you and Duranbolt exchanged information about the Black Wizard you came into contact with correct?"

The members of the guild turned their attention to Natsu. Crossing his arms, Natsu recalled the event, "Yeah, we talked about it. There was a guy on the island who used a weird type of magic. I'm sure he would've killed Evergreen, Elfman, and myself if it wasn't for the scarf that Igneel gave to me. My scarf absorbed the impact, but I was still pretty damaged from just one of his attacks. He was crying for no reason whenever I came into contact with him. Also, he knew my name…"

Gray let out an audible sigh, making it known he was losing interest in Natsu's story. "What's the point of all of this? How does this tie into Gildarts sending us an urgent message"?

Natsu let out a hardly audible grunt, and Makarov raised his hand yet again. "Natsu, the man that you encountered on Tenrou, is none other than the Black Wizard Zeref. To answer your question Gray, Gildarts has informed us that the Twin Dragons of Sabretooth recently came into contact with Zeref."

Natsu slammed his hands onto the bar top, "What! You mean they got to have the fun of taking down creep? That's no fair". A hard fist came crashing down on top of the Salamander's head.

In a stern voice, Erza commanded, "Natsu this is no time to be childish. If all of the stories about Zeref are truth, then Sting and Rogue must be in critical condition."

Makarov continues, "Indeed, if Zeref is as strong as Natsu stated, and if the rumors and stories are in fact true, then anyone who comes into contact with him is in grave danger. As for Sting and Rogue, they were both defeated by Zeref in a town about three days away by way of train."

Gajeel, who was Levy as an arm rest, straightened his posture, "You can't be serious old man, both of them? Those two aren't the strongest guys around, but they're not exactly pushovers".

Giving a simple nod towards Gajeel, Makarov continued, "You are correct when it comes to the Twin Dragons not being push overs. It takes a powerful opponent to take down two dragon slayers at once. However, the reason I have you all here is because of Gildarts. After the dragon slayers were defeated, Gildarts came across a destroyed forest that served as the battleground. He took Sting and Rogue back to Sabretooth to get them medical attention. Even though the two are unconscious as of right now, they were able to give Gildarts a message. The final message from the Twin Dragon's before they fell into a comatose state was: stop Zeref's final chapter, Absolute Darkness".

A new silence spread throughout the guild hall. Any mention of spells regarding Zeref left a bad taste in the guild's mouth. Ranging from the events involving Deloria to the magic that Hades used, not a single member of the guild could think of magic from the book of Zeref without shivering. Lucy scooted herself closer to Natsu and wrapped her arms around his. Natsu looked at Lucy with a slight hint of confusion on his face, but he figured that she needed to be comforted, so he let her be.

Levy stared to shiver causing Gajeel to remove his arm from her head. With her hand slightly covering her mouth, she started to speak in a petite voice, "Absolute Darkness? I've read about that before. It's the final chapter from the Book of Zeref. In a sense, it's similar to the magic that Nirvana uses because Absolute Darkness causes anyone who it is casted on to fall victim to the power of darkness. But, it doesn't turn anyone who fights for darkness to turn to the good side. It's a one way street. Also, from what I've read, once Absolute Darkness reaches its final form, Acnologia feeds on the victims' souls to gain an immortal status. Everything after that is too inconsistent to be taken as true from what I've read." Levy backed into Gajeel, and he put one of his arms around her, as if to symbolize that he'll be her shield.

Makarov stood up, "Listen up! As the number one guild in Fiore, we will make our move to stop Zeref! Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Lucy, you will head towards Summerset, the nearest town to where the battle took place. From there you will begin a tracking mission to attempt to find Zeref. Gildarts will meet you there."

Natsu gently pulled his arm away from Lucy and pounded his fists together. Flames busted out from his fists and he confidently proclaimed, "Don't worry gramps, with Gildarts helping out Zeref won't stand a chance against the strongest team in Fairy Tail!"

Makarov raised his arm to regain control in the hall. "The next team will head towards the Sabretooth guild hall to provide surveillance on Sting and Rogue and to search their libraries on information regarding Absolute Darkness. The second team will consist of Laxus, Gajeel, Levy, and Elfman. The rest of you will stay here and we will begin our own investigation on Absolute Darkness and Acnologia. The two teams will head out first thing tomorrow". Makarov raised his hand in the signature guild style and the rest of the members followed with cheers and shouts echoing throughout the hall.

~Later that night outside of Lucy's apartment

Natsu and Happy were sitting on the ledge near the river in silence. Happy looked at his lifelong friend and felt that there was something troubling him. "Natsu, is something wrong?"

Natsu pated Happy on his head and looked into the night sky, "Happy, if you cared about someone, you wouldn't want to put that person in danger would you right?"

Confused by his question, Happy replied, "What do you mean by care about? Like how we care about everyone else in the guild?"

Natsu gently shook his head and turned his gaze down to the river, "No not that kind of way. Even though you like spending time with Carla, aren't you kind of glad she isn't coming with us tomorrow? Knowing that were going to come into contact with an opponent who won't hesitate to kill, it's kind of scary thinking that you can lose people you care about."

"I guess you're right. I don't ever want to have Carla be put in a dangerous situation. I'm not strong enough to protect her from strong mages, that's where you come in. You always find a way to keep everyone alive no matter who we go up against."

Letting out a small sigh, Natsu turned and looked his friend in the eyes, "Happy, what if I mess up and someone gets hurt? Whenever I couldn't save Future Lucy something inside of me snapped. The fire that ragged inside of me hurt more than I could describe. It hurt more than when I thought Lisanna died. I didn't think that was possible."

"Natsu, are you worried that something is going to happen to Lucy?"

Scratching his head, he replied "Well, I guess so. I feel like I fight stronger when I'm trying to protect her, but it doesn't sit right with me to have her come along when this mission could easily get out of hand."

Happy stood up and put his paw on his friends arm, "Natsu, I think you should go talk to her."

"What am I supposed to say?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just a cat, but it's getting late and I promised Wendy I would go with her and Carla to look at the stars tonight. Bye!"

Natsu tried to grab his partner, but the Exceed was already long gone in the sky. The dragon slayer stood up and looked up at Lucy's window. The light was still on, so she's still awake. She won't get too mad if I kindly ask her to stay here tomorrow right? She'll understand, it's to protect her.

With that thought, Natsu leaped up to Lucy's window ledge and propped it open.

~That's it for chapter 3! I have too much time on my hands now that school is over haha. For at least the next couple of chapters, rapid releases can be expected. I started to re-watch Fairy Tail and I'm on a FT high right now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and all comments, reviews, favorites, and follows are very much appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4- Desires

~Last chapter felt a little long to me, but I had to implement the conflict somehow right? Thanks for all the views! A little bit of fluff coming up for all you Nalu romantics out there! ;) enjoy!

Chapter 4- Desires

~Lucy's bedroom before Natsu comes in

Lucy was sprawled out on her bed, staring at her ceiling. She was wearing a red t shirt with a pair of small blue shorts. Thinking about Acnologia made it too hard for her to successfully relax. All of the strongest members of the guild were no match for the dark dragon. Now, she was expected to accompany a group to track down Zeref, the most powerful Black Wizard of all time. How did she always find herself in these situations?

She held her right hand out too look at her guild mark. She remembered when she first joined the guild, and how Natsu didn't even seem to care. But, before she knew it, Natsu had repeatedly put his life on the line for her. It almost felt like a dream. So many adventures, so many desperate situations, so many enemies with impeccable strength, but somehow her and her friends came together to overcome it all. No matter how bad her situation seemed, one person always gave her faith…

Lucy got out of bed and turned off the lights to her room. With only the lights from the moon and streets visible in her room, she walked back to her bed and lied down on top of her blankets. She closed her eyes and attempted to get lost in her thoughts again.

Hearing something slam near her window, Lucy sat up. Her window propped open, and a shadow of a man appeared on her window ledge. The shadow began to speak and Lucy recognized the voice.

"Yo Lucy! Why's it so dark in here? I can hardly see". Natsu climbed through and entered Lucy's room. He rolled onto her bed and bumped into Lucy. In frustration she sat up and pushed him. "Natsu! What are you doing!?" In retaliation, Natsu pushed Lucy and she fell onto her back and Natsu hovered over her with his hands propping the door.

The two stayed still without speaking any words. All that could be heard in the dark room was the heavy breathing between Natsu and Lucy. Their breathing calmed down and the two realized their close proximity.

An awkward silence carried on for several seconds that felt like an eternity to Natsu and Lucy. Natsu could make out Lucy's face and could tell than she smiling. It was different from her normal smile, but he couldn't place his finger on why the smile was different. A calm voice breathed onto Natsu's neck from underneath him, "Are you ever going to try to and use the front door? It's there for a reason you know?" The touch of Lucy's warm breath on his neck made Natsu's skin crawl. Her scent never seemed so strong to him before. It was nearly overwhelming to him to have her scent crash into him while their bodies were so close. He was always found of the way Lucy smelled, but it was too much for him to handle while he was this close to her.

Realizing he had yet to answer Lucy, Natsu responded in a shaky voice, "Doors aren't really my style. There's no challenge in using doors." Natsu's breathed brushed along Lucy's collarbone, and started to blush. Her heart started to flutter in her chest. She had never been this close to a guy before. Not to mention, she had never had a guy lay on top of her. Natsu could feel Lucy's body stiffening beneath him and he was able to hear her beat rapidly picking up. Although it was too dark for him to see her red cheeks, he figured that something was wrong since he could hear her heart beat. "Lucy are you okay? I can hear your heart beating."

"Um, no I'm fine it's nothing. Um, is there something you wanted?" Lucy had trouble gathering her thoughts with Natsu lying on top of her. Her common sense told her to push him off, but something inside of her craved to have his warmth close to her.

"Oh yeah. Um…" Natsu took one of his arms off of the bed that he was using to prop himself up and used it to scratch his cheek. "Well, um, it's about the mission for tomorrow." Natsu put his hand back down onto the mattress. Now, his hands were on both sides of Lucy's face. His face was no more than a foot away from hers. Despite the darkness in the room, Natsu and Lucy were easily able to make out each other's eyes. They each stared into each other eyes in complete silence.

Lucy broke the silence by clearing her throat. In a quiet voice that was nearly a whisper, made its way from Lucy's mouth. "Um what about the mission Natsu?" Lucy looked up at Natsu and the feeling of him breathing on her skin caused her head to feel slightly dizzy.

In a calm and gentle voice, Natsu responded to his partner, "Lucy, I don't know how to say this." Without thinking, Lucy brought her hands to Natsu's chest. She gently placed her frail fingers on her bare skin through his open vest.

Not completely aware of why she had just placed her hand on his chest, Lucy spoke in a whisper, "What about the mission Natsu?"

Natsu leaned his head down so that he was resting his forehead on hers. Now resting on his elbows, Natsu began to run his fingers through Lucy's hair. "Luce, I promised that I would protect you, but… I would feel a lot better on this mission if you were to stay at the guild."

Feeling confused and hurt by his words, Lucy responded with a hint a hurt in her voice, "You want me to stay behind? I just can't stay behind knowing you're putting yourself in danger Natsu. We're a team. Where you go I go. I wouldn't know what to do if something were to happen to you on this mission while I stayed back here."

"I'm more than confident in my own skills Luce, but I don't want to ever see you get hurt again."

Hurt again? Lucy then remembered the hurt that was plastered on Natsu's face after the death of her future self. She trailed her fingers up from his chest and traced her way along his body up to his cheek. "Natsu, I already told you that I believe in you, I don't care how dangerous the mission is, I want to be there with you."

Lucy felt Natsu's breathing pattern change as she traced her fingers up his body. Eager to feel his body again, she brought her other hand to his collar bone. Slowly, she traced the shape of his chest and his abs down to his waist band, and she slowly made her way back up. The heat that was pulsating from his body was almost hot enough to burn her hand. But it didn't hurt, no, she wanted his heat to touch her.

What was she doing? This is her best friend? Friends aren't supposed to touch each other the way she was touching him. Yet, she was happy with how close they were. Feeling Natsu breath on her caused fireworks to explode through every cell on her body. Besides, he didn't seem to oppose them being so close together. He was the one who leaned in closer to rest his forehead on hers.

While tracing her hand back up to his collar bone, Lucy heard Natsu let out a low sound that almost sounded like a hiss. She felt his body tense up on top of hers. Using her left hand that was caressing his cheek, she felt his skin harden. Rubbing his cheek, she recognized the texture. Scales. Although softer that of a reptiles, she knew for a fact that Natsu's skin was scaling over. The only time that a dragon slayers skin scaled over was during the Dragon Force, but she had never seen Natsu use it before.

Natsu snatched Lucy's hand from his cheek and slammed it into the mattress. Not that she wanted too, but if she were to try she would be unsuccessful in breaking free from his grasp on her wrist. Using his free hand, Natsu brushed Lucy's hair away from her neck and he moved his head into the crease between her head and shoulder.

His hot breath crashing onto her neck caused Lucy to twitch. She clenched onto his vest and pursed her lips together to avoid letting her self let out a small moan from pleasure. With his free hand, Natsu traced the side of Lucy's face down to her neck. He slowly traced his way down her shoulder, along her curvaceous waist. And made a stop at her shorts. He slowly pushed his hand under her shirt and traced the skin that bordered Lucy's shorts.

Lucy bucked her hips into Natsu's and he grunted from the impact. In a deep voice that was borderline with a moan, he whispered into her ear, "Luce… Do that again."

Even with her lips clenched shut, Lucy let out a moan from her throat. Lucy brought her non-pinned hand up to Natsu's chest and clenched on to his solid muscle. In a nearly raspy voice, Lucy moaned out, "Like this?"

Lucy pushed her hips up into his, and Natsu pushed back down into her. No longer able to keep her mouth closed, Lucy leaded her head back and let out a quite moan. Natsu moved his face in font of Lucy's. Their noses rested on each other's. Each one panting while looking into each other's eyes. Neither Lucy nor Natsu knew what they were getting themselves into. Neither of the two had ever been in this situation or a situation similar to this.

Lucy brought her hand up to Natsu's face and she rested it on his cheek. She knew what she wanted. In fact she knew what they both wanted. Their eyes no longer only focused on the others eyes, but instead focused on the others lips. The only thing she wanted was to feel her best friends lips press against hers. Lucy's logic was long gone. The idea that this could change their friendship forever didn't matter anymore. All she could think about was pulling Natsu down onto her so that their lips could crash together.

Natsu could feel himself losing control to something. Not his lust, not his desires that were burning inside of him as a man, but something different. He felt his magic burning inside of him. He felt his instincts slowly taking over his behavior. He would never be in this position with his best friend, they were partners. But, something inside of him yearned for her. He couldn't get his mind to stop creating images of his reaching up her shirt as he slammed his lips into Lucy's. He felt his Dragon Force create scales on both of his fore arms. He could feel that he was losing control to the dragon part of him.

Natsu's arm moved on its own accord as it crept up Lucy's shirt. Lucy began to slowly pant as Natsu's hand came to a stop just below her chest. Natsu closed his eyes and leaned his lips towards the panting beneath him.

Lucy moved her hand to the back of Natsu's head and ran her fingers through his soft spikes. She too closed her eyes and leaned towards his lips. Lucy unintentionally let a moan escape from her throat as she approached Natsu's lips.

Her moan pushed Natsu's instincts as a dragon to take over. He slammed his lips onto Lucy's neck just below her throat. He slowly spread his lips and sunk his fangs into her soft skin. Knowing she should be in pain, Lucy couldn't bring herself to push Natsu off. Instead, she clenched onto his hair and moaned out, "Natsu!"

Letting go of her wrist, Natsu brought both of his to Lucy's waist to hold her still while she squirmed beneath him. With her other hand now free, she caressed Natsu's hair with both hands. She clenched onto his hair to keep the pain and pleasure at bay.

Natsu released Lucy's neck from his fangs. A small trace of saliva connected from Natsu's lips to her neck. He brought his wrist up to his mouth to wipe his lips clean.

Lucy felt heat coursing through her veins. Whatever Natsu did to her when he bit her, it was driving her crazy with cravings for his body. Lucy looked into Natsu's eyes, and he brushed her hair out of her face. Natsu leaned in to cross the line that the two would never be able to return from. Eager to embark on the journey with her best friend, Lucy pushed her lips out, but she didn't feel Natsu's lips come crashing into hers.

Lucy opened her eyes and saw that Natsu stopped just millimeters away from her lips. He was going to make her take the final step in their kiss. He initiated the action, and he expected her to finish it. Having been teased for far too long, Lucy was ready to reach the point of no return. She closed her eyes and leaned towards the lips she'd been yearning for.

~Sorry for ending the chapter at a crappy spot! Well, not that sorry haha. I didn't plan on having the story get this steamy, but it will get steamier later on in the story as well, so just a fair warning! Thanks for reading! All comments, reviews, follows, and favorites are extremely appreciated!


	5. Ch 5 pt 1-Light that Fades to Darknes

~Oh my gosh! I took forever to get to the story out! I just finished college, came back home, and my best friend got married within the week! I need to edit the second part of this chapter still, but here's part of chapter 5!

Chapter 5- Light that Fades to Darkness

~Streets of Magnolia

The lights of the stars and moon illuminated the quiet streets with a peaceful white light. Walking along the lake, Happy, Carla, and Wendy walked towards Lucy's apartment to say hi to Natsu before heading off to bed.

Being a little bit too young to understand why older people need privacy, she still questioned Happy, "Are you sure it's okay to disturb Natsu and Lucy while it's so late? Maybe they're on a date or something. Wouldn't be embarrassing to have someone walk in while you're on a date?"

Walking next to Carla, matching her steps stride for stride, Happy nonchalantly responded, "They won't be on a date Wendy. They're probably still talking about tomorrow's mission. Natsu doesn't want her to go because he's scared that she could get hurt. I kind of understand where he's coming from. I wouldn't want anything to happen to Carla on a dangerous mission."

Carla turned her head away from Happy and crossed her arms. She huffed as if she was too good for Happy's comment, but Wendy chuckled when she thought she saw Carla slightly blush.

Looking up to the stars, Wendy chimed in, "Being completely honest, I would be scared to go on the mission tomorrow. But, there's something about Natsu and the way he fights that somehow manages to keep people safe. Even if Lucy still goes on the mission, I'm positive he could keep her safe."

Carla, still with her arms crossed, responded, "Although I'm not a fan of his destructive Nature, there's no denying the fact that he's practically one of the strongest in the guild. His protective instincts are second to none."

Happy jumped into the air and nearly yelled, "Aye sir!"

The group had made their way through the streets of the quite city, and eventually found their way to Lucy's apartment. Happy drew out his wings and started to fly up to Lucy's window. However, he didn't hear Carla and Wendy behind him. He turned around to see the duo still on the ground both giving the blue exceed a confused look.

Not understanding what Happy was doing, Wendy asked the blue cat, "What are you doing Happy? I thought Lucy got mad whenever you and Natsu barge in through her window. Wouldn't it be more polite to use her door?" Carla huffed yet again and nodded in agreement.

Shaking his head, Happy replied, "Nope. She "_loves"_ him so she won't get that mad."

Wendy and Carla shared a look and silently communicated as to whether or not they would join Happy with his intrusion of privacy. The pair let out a sigh, and Carla drew on her wings. Carrying Wendy, Carla caught up with Happy who was now waiting on the window ledge.

~Lucy's bedroom

Lucy licked her lips, to make sure they were soft before she would close the space. She tightened her grip on Natsu's hair. Natsu growled under his breath as if he was growing sick of waiting to crash into Lucy's lips.

In a soft moan, Lucy called out, "Natsu," and her voice trailed off as she leaned into Natsu's lips. They crashed together hard enough that Lucy was sure that she was going to have bruised lips. Natsu slowly spread his lips apart and his tongue traced over Lucy's lips. She spread her lips to grant him entrance, and his tongue crashed into her mouth. Lucy wrapped her legs around his waist as their tongues danced together in her mouth.

Feeling that she wouldn't be able venture her partners mouth anytime soon, she wrapped her own his tongue with her own and sucked on it. Under his breath, he moaned and pushed his groin into Lucy's. Lucy's body fell weak as she moaned from his thrust. Their lips parted so they could breath. A trail of saliva connected their lips together.

Panting, Natsu gently placed his lips on Lucy's then pulled away and whispered to her, "I'll never leave your side Luce. You're mine and I won't ever let that change." Lucy's heart fluttered as she realized that her best friend was claiming her. A part of her always wanted to know whether he felt the way she did about him. She tried so hard over the years to hide the way she felt about him. She'd spent, days, weeks, and even nights trying to force herself to stop thinking of the possibility of Natsu being more than a friend. Being underneath him, having the feeling of his lips on her own, hearing and actually knowing that he felt the way about her that she did him, it all Lucy could ever ask for.

"Natsu." While not trying to, Lucy realized her voice came out in a seductive moan. He looked into her glazed eyes, which stared back into his. He crashed into her lips again with more passion that the first time. They began to moan under their breath as he rammed his groin into hers' by instinct. Each thrust that followed the previous became more and more aggressive. He pulled his lips off of Lucy's so the pair could breathe while he continued to ram himself into her like a wild animal.

The window popped open and the pair stopped and their attention darted to the moonlight that beamed into the room.

Standing on the ledge, having a hard time trying to see anything, Happy called out, "Aye, Natsu! Lucy! Where are you guys? I thought I heard you guys talking a second ago." The exceed hopped onto the mattress just feet away from where Natsu and Lucy were intertwined.

Wendy called out from outside the window, "Happy maybe they're in a different room or something?"

Lucy felt herself start to panic. Not only was she in an embarrassing position, but she was about to be caught being rather intimate with her best friend! Her mind started to run through scenarios to get out of her predicament. Maybe she could push Natsu off and make up some story as to why he was on top of her. Well, that wouldn't work. She felt Natsu's breathing heavily as if he was heaving. She wondered if he was scared of getting caught in this situation with her. Would he be ashamed of her?

Just as Lucy began to think that her partner could possibly be ashamed of her, the unthinkable happened. As if he was trying to wake the entire city, Natsu screamed out at the top of his lungs, "Ah, ah, chew!"

The near scream scared Happy onto his butt, and Lucy pushed her partner off and he crashed into floor. Lucy stormed off of the bed and stomped her way to the light switch, and illuminated the room.

~Wow sorry again for being off grid! Next part of chapter will come out within two days! Thank you so much for continuing to support and follow the story!


	6. Ch 5 pt 2-Light that fades to Darknes

~Whoa these chapters are coming a little slower than I wanted them too. But, I will keep posting and I will try to post them a little more often. I already have two arcs planned out, so I'm seeing this story out to the end! Also, a quick shout out to Fanficlove2014 for the constant support!

Chapter 5.2- Light that Fades to Darkness

~Lucy's bedroom

Lucy flicked on the lights and the blackness of her room was eliminated. Carla was hovering near the open window, with Wendy in her grasps. Lucy noticed that the pair outside of her window was staring at her as if something was wrong. She looked to Natsu, looking for a reason why she was being stared at. Natsu sat on the floor with his legs crossed and looked up at Lucy with red cheeks. Lucy looked around the room, and she felt the air grow heavy with awkwardness.

Happy sat up and put his hand over his mouth. In a teasing manner, he spoke out, "Lucy and Natsu were being lovey dovey!"

Before Lucy could lash out at Happy, she noticed that Natsu was looking away from her and scratching his cheek. She looked down at herself and realized why she had been receiving looks from Wendy and Carla. Her face began to burn up.

Her shirt was torn down the middle from her waist up. Her shorts were rolled up and were hugging her body tightly. Her stomach was covered in several scratches. She figured Natsu must have torn her shirt when they were in the heat of the moment, but what were all the scratches about? She would have to ask Natsu about it later. For now, she had a pressing issue she had to deal with.

Lucy stood still, filled with embarrassment as she stood in front of her company in a revealing manner. In a frenzied panic, she crossed her arms over her stomach to cover her revealed skin. With her voice shaky, she called out to Natsu, "Get me something to cover myself!"

Natsu scrambled around the floor and tossed a blanket to Lucy. As she covered herself, Carla grew irritated that Wendy was witnessing such an inappropriate scene.

In a very annoyed voice, Carla called out, "I'm taking Wendy home. A child her age should not be in the same room as you two if this is how you are going to be acting. Goodbye!" Carla disappeared from the window, and Happy chased her out the window and yelled out, "Wait Carla! Don't leave me here!"

As Happy chased Carla out the window, Lucy and Natsu heard Wendy call out from a distance, "Goodnight Natsu! Goodnight Lucy!"

~A few hours later in Lucy's room

Natsu and Lucy were sitting on her bed in complete silence. Neither person had spoken a word since they were left to be alone. The pair took turns exchanging awkward glances each other. Neither party knew what the next step was. Lucy had never had a boyfriend before, let alone kiss a guy. What she and Natsu just did was much further than what her prior experience prepared her for. Was she supposed to ask him if he had fun? Or if he wanted to do it again? What if he didn't enjoy it and didn't want to do it again? Lucy knew there wasn't a real purpose in trying to deny it anymore. She had fallen for Natsu, her best friend, and she didn't know if he felt the same way about her. She knew at the least that he found her attractive. If he didn't then the events of the night wouldn't have transpired. But, if that was all he felt towards her, pure sexual attraction, Lucy knew her heart would be broken. Not only would she lose her best friend, but she would lose the person she had fallen for.

Lucy's thoughts were disrupted by Natsu's voice, "Hey Luce…" Natsu was looking away from Lucy, almost like he was ashamed to look at her. She looked at him, and wanted nothing more to rest her head on him, but she held in the urge and listened to what he had to say. "Look, Lucy, that hasn't happened to me before, and… well, did I hurt you?"

In a soft voice, she responded, "Hurt me? No, I'm fine Natsu. I just want to know something. Have you ever… um… done something like that before?"

Natsu looked into Lucy's eyes. He could see that the thought of him doing anything with another girl would crush her. He leaned back on her bed and gazed at the ceiling, "Nope. I know Lisanna wanted me to do stuff like that with her, but it never happened." Natsu started to blush and looked away from Lucy. "What about you?"

Lucy let out a deep breath and felt relieved knowing that this was his first time doing anything with a girl. She gently shook her head towards Natsu, "No I haven't done anything before." She looked at Natsu, and he was laying down on her bed with his eyes glued to her ceiling. Lucy smiled and lied down next to him.

The two stayed in silence and only looked above them. Natsu noticed that Lucy was fighting her urge to fall asleep. "If you want to go to sleep, I can go home."

Lucy leaned closer to Natsu and rested her head onto his neck. "I am falling asleep, but I would sleep better if you were here with me." She felt her partner adjusting his body into a more comfortable position. He placed one of his arms gently under her head so she could use it as a pillow. Lucy rested her arm on his chest and wrapped her leg around his as if he was her body pillow.

Whispering into her ear, Natsu spoke gently into her ear, "Night Luce."

Lucy felt her body become cloaked in goosebumps as his words crept into her ears. The warmth of his body made the use of a blanket non-existent. She felt Natsu start the run his hand through her hair. He ran his hands down the full length of her blonde hair; following every stroke with another gentle stroke. Lucy closed her eyes and she slowly feel asleep.

~Outside the Guild Hall

Natsu sat down on top of his bag and was drawing circles with a stick on the ground. The sun was barely rising, but he couldn't stay asleep any longer. He had left Lucy's apartment while she was still asleep to head to the hall. Today was the day they would leave for their mission. Take the train to the small city of Summerset, regroup with Gildarts, and pursue Zeref. Natsu felt his stomach clench with fear; the same fear he felt when he fought Gildarts in the S-class trials. He remembered the overwhelming power he felt from his small encounter with Zeref. In an all-out battle, would he be able to take down Zeref? What if he was out classed by the black wizard? What if Lucy was at the mercy of Zeref, would he be able to save her? He clenched his fist and the stick shattered to several pieces.

Happy was sitting next to Natsu, and was enjoying a fish that Mira had prepared for him. He looked up at Natsu, and could tell that his friend was deep in thought. Happy swore that he could see stress marks appearing around him from how tense Natsu appeared. He put down his fish and put his paw on his friend, "Natsu, are you okay?"

Natsu came back to reality, and simply smiled at his exceed, "Yeah, I'm just ready to head out. I haven't seen Gildarts in a long time. Thinking about being able to fight alongside with him gets me fired up."

Happy raised his hand and simply replied, "Aye sir!"

Gray was laying down in the shade behind Natsu. He sat up and spoke to Natsu, "Hey dragon eyes, where is Lucy? Weren't you with her last Night? If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who came banging on my door at the break of dawn so we could get an early start on this mission. I'm all for getting a good start on a mission, but if I would've known we were going to be sitting here waiting for Lucy for nearly an hour I would have stayed in bed."

Instead of getting frustrated, Natsu simply responded, "She should be here soon. I didn't want to wake her up to early."

Erza hoped off of her mound of luggage, "As soon as she arrived we will depart. Knowing Gildarts, he won't wait too long before he starts to chase Zeref down by himself."

Natsu picked up a familiar scent, it was Lucy. He stood up and put his bag on over his shoulders. "I just picked up Lucy's scent, she'll be here in a few seconds."

Lucy approached from over the hill to see that her team was already waiting for her. She had awoken to see that she was alone in her bed. Although she was disappointed to not find herself being held by a certain dragon slayer, her morning had started off quite well. She found that Natsu had left her breakfast on her table along with a note informing her that he was gathering their team together for an early start to the mission. She had gotten dressed in an outfit that would be comfortable enough for the trip, a purple shirt that hung off of her shoulders, and short blue shorts. She felt that her attire was a little too revealing, but she couldn't deny that she wanted to catch Natsu staring at her in her current outfit.

Lucy reached the group, and was greeted by a full house of smiled. Lucy simply smiled back, and turned her attention to Natsu. His cheeks were slightly red and he looked away from her just as she looked to him. Lucy let out a small chuckle, but she was interrupted by Erza.

"Alright listen up. Summerset is three days away. Once we get off the train, we'll be around half an hour away from our destination. Gildarts should be waiting there. Now let's get going." Erza turned away and drug her mound of luggage along with her.

Gray sighed and threw his bag over his shoulder. "Let's get this over with." He followed close behind Erza. Happy took flight and was flying alongside Gray.

Natsu started to walk behind Gray, but kept a safe enough distance behind him so that Gray wouldn't be able to hear anything he said. Lucy walked along side Natsu. She started to feel the impact of their previous night. She gazed over his body, and felt slightly irritated that his shirt was closed and covering his stomach. She shook her perverted thoughts away, and focused on how to break the ice.

Lucy took a deep breath, "So, did you sleep alright Natsu?"

Natsu nodded his head, but didn't look towards Lucy. All he could think about was pinning her down and slamming his lips into hers. He didn't understand how these urges could be so strong. He shook his head and looked at his partner with a stern expression.

"Lucy, promise me one thing. If situation gets dangerous, I want you to run. No debating on this okay?" Lucy looked up at Natsu, and she could tell that he wasn't going to let her argue with him.

Lucy lightly pouted, pursed her lips to the side, "Fine, but if you make me worry too much you'll owe me later." Her face turned red as she realized how suggestive her comment sounded. She looked to Natsu just to see him smile and pat her on her head. She sighed as she remembered that Natsu was clueless about most sexual comments and innuendos.

~ Three days later, outside the train station near Summerset

Happy carried Natsu off of the train, "Natsu, we're off the train now so stop being sick." Natsu opened his eyes to see solid ground under him. Happy dropped Natsu and he landed on the ground.

Natsu clenched his fists and they became engulfed in fire, "Alright, now I'm pumped up! Let's go find Gildarts!" Happy levitated next to Natsu and raised both of his arms into the air, "Aye sir!" Natsu then sprinted full speed ahead with Happy on his trail.

Within a matter of seconds, Natsu and Happy were out of sight. Gray sighed, "Come on, knowing Natsu he'll burn down the city before we have a chance to even start looking for Gildarts." Lucy and Erza nodded in compliance and began to follow after Natsu and Happy.

Natsu and Happy were making their way through the forest outside of Summerset when Natsu picked up an odd scent. Nearly shouting from running at high speeds, he called out to Happy, "Hey I'm picking up some odd scents. There's fresh human blood up ahead, burning wood and smoke, and I can smell Gildarts. But, something is off with his scent. I can't pick up Zeref's scent, but I can smell his magic. We have to go faster Happy! The others can catch up!"

~Outskirts of Summerset

Natsu and Happy came to a stop near the edge of the city. The city was collapsed. Dead bodies were scattered all over the grounds and building remains. Several survivors were all running away from the city. Natsu slowly walked in the opposite direction of the retreating people. With each step, the scent of Gildarts grew closer. Screams and explosions echoed throughout the destroyed city. Smoke rose from collapsed buildings and began to block out the light from the sun.

Natsu called out to Happy, "Hey! This Absolute Zero magic that Gramps was talking about; what would happen if he were to use it on a person?"

Happy flew alongside of Natsu as they slowly approached the cause of destruction, "It would kind of be like how Nirvana was. They would lose control of themselves and become a servant to Zeref."

Before Happy could ask why Natsu had asked the question, the answer stood ahead of the pair. Roughly fifteen yards ahead, stood a figure with an ominous black aura emitting from their body. The figure had a man its hand. The man face was being squeezed by the figures hand, and the sound and crushing boned could be heard. The man fell from the figures grip, and he fell to the floor. The figure turned its attention towards Natsu and Happy. A wicked grin was plastered on the figured face. The figures cloak waved in its black ominous aura.

Natsu's body began to shake in fear. His eyes were glued to the figure cloaked in darkness. The man that served as a father figure to him after Igneel disappeared, the man who looked after himself, Happy and Lisanna, the man that was known as the strongest Fairy Tail wizard, stood before him. The strongest wizard of the guild, had become a victim to Zeref's magic. Gildarts had fallen to Absolute Zero.

Gildarts took a step toward Natsu and Happy, and slowly raised his arm. He pointed his finger at Natsu, and in a demonic raspy voice, he spoke, "Natsu Dragneel. You failed to stop Zeref on Tenrou. Now this era will suffer because of it. This era will end with you Natsu. You will become a slave through Absolute Zero. Now, be defeated Natsu!"

~Please leave a review to tell me what you all think! Next chapter will come out this week and will be called "Absolute Zero Gildarts vs. the Fire Lightning Dragon Slayer". Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 6- Gildarts vs the Salamander

Chapter 6- Absolute Darkness Gildarts vs. the Fire Lightning Dragon Slayer

~So I just caught up on the anime, only to find out that there is a character with the words "Absolute Zero" written on his armor. So, to avoid confusion, I'm changing the magic that Zeref uses, and it will be called "Absolute Darkness". Anyways, thanks for reading, and please leave a review as well as follow and favorite the story!

~Sabretooth Guild Hall

Gajeel paced back and forth around Levy while she skimmed through various books in the Sabretooth library. Feeling irritated from being cooped up for too long, Gajeel slammed his hands on a table.

In an annoyed voice, Gajeel complained, "Hey Levy, are you done yet? I'm bored out of my mind in here. I would do anything for some scrap metal." Levy put down her book and sighed.

"Gajeel I could get more done if you weren't making so much noise."

Gajeel grunted, "You've been reading those books for nearly seven hours now, and you're still not even close to figuring out this dark magic of Zeref."

Levy took off her glasses and put down her book, "If being here bothers you so much, why don't you go to the infirmary with Laxus. I wouldn't mind having an update on Rouge and Sting's condition."

The Iron Dragon Slayer shook his head, "No way. I'm not leaving your side while Zeref is somewhere out there. I don't care where we are. I don't consider any place safe unless I'm there to look over you."

Levy's face burned red as she started to play with her hair, "Gajeel… you want to stay near me?"

Gajeel stumbled and knocked over several books, "Hey don't get the wrong idea or anything! It's just um, well you know!"

Levy started to chuckle, "its fine. Just having you here with me is nice."

Gajeel turned away from Levy, and she figures that was all she was going to get out of him for the time being. The bluenette grabbed her glasses only to have them knocked out of her hand by Gajeel.

"Gajeel what was that for!"

Ignoring her completely, Gajeel began to speak in a low, serious voice, "Something is wrong. I'm picking up a weird scent. My nose isn't as good as Salamander's, but I know something is off. I'm getting you out of here."

Gajeel picked up Levy and tucked her under his arm. Sprinting down the halls of the guild, several explosions began to sound off in the distance. Hearing the footsteps of someone in front of him, Gajeel came to a complete stop.

Slowly stumbling around a corner, was Laxus. His right arm was severely wounded and was dripping blood. Gajeel placed Levy back on the floor, "What the hell happened to you?"

Laxus held his hand out, telling Gajeel to keep his distance, "It's Sting and Rouge. Something is wrong with them. They're letting out an immense amount of dark magical power. It's as if they're not people anymore. They killed all the medics who were in the room with them. I'm trying to clear the area so I can handle the situation."

Levy held onto Gajeel's arm, and he could feel her shivering. In a stern voice, Gajeel replied, "There's no way you're taking those two on alone."

Laxus turned away from the pair, "Gajeel, get her out of here. The old man would be pissed if I let anyone get hurt."

Levy prepared to object Laxus, but Gajeel swung her over his shoulder and began to sprint in the opposite direction of Laxus.

~Outside the Sabretooth guild hall

Gajeel let go of Levy and she slid off his shoulder and feel onto the hard ground. Sitting up on her knees, the bluenette patted the dust off of her orange blouse. Levy began to pout and looked up towards Gajeel who was looking towards the direction of the guild.

In an annoyed voice, Levy complained, "You know I could've ran alongside you instead of you tossing me over your shoulder like a bag of flour."

After grunting at the bluenette complaints, he replied, "You're safe aren't ya? So why are you complaining?

After sighing and taking in the scenery, she replied, "Well why did we stop in a ditch?"

Gajeel sat down across from Levy and crossed his arms, "It's better than being out in the open isn't it? Anyways, it's hard to imagine that things are going smoothly with Salamanders group. If someone in that group were to fall of the grid, we'd have a serious issue on our hands."

Levy gasped, "Wait. They're supposed to be meeting with Gildarts. If Zeref were to get to Gildarts first… I don't even want to think about the consequences."

Gajeel closed his eyes and let his thoughts wonder, "You're right. But, first thing is first. We get you to safety, and then I'll make my way to Salamander's group. I don't think we have anything to worry about with letting Laxus handle Sting and Rouge."

Levy's cheeks turned red as she twirled her hair around her fingers, "Are you worried that something will happen to me if I stay with you? I thought you told me not to leave your side while we were back on Tenrou Island?"  
Gajeel grunted and looked away "So what if I did tell ya that?"

"What did you mean by it?"

The iron dragon slayer opened his eyes and met the gaze of the bluenette, "What do you think I meant by it?"

Levy steered away from Gajeel's intense stare, "Well… I felt like you said it because… you kind of care about me or something…"

Gajeel scooted his body closer to Levy. He sat up on one knee and leaned his face closer to hers. Her face started to burn red with their new proximity. Levy leaned back and her back rested against the earth behind her. Gajeel placed his arm on the earth behind Levy and gazed into her eyes.

"Look, I don't know what you think about me or anything of the sort Levy. But, I'll never forgive myself for what I did to you before I joined Fairy Tail. I don't think I'll ever be able to truly make amends. So, I made it my duty to keep you safe from other monsters out there. If that means that I have to keep by my side then so be it."

Levy placed her hand on Gajeel's arm, and spoke in a soft, weak voice, "Gajeel… I don't want to leave your side…" Levy looked away from the Dragon Slayer, and a silence fell upon the pair.

Gajeel stood up, and cleared his throat, "Ahem… So, I guess we should make our way towards Summerset."

~Forest outside of Summerset

Lucy, Erza, and Gray made their way through the decayed forest. Fallen tree branches lay in all directions as leaves continued to fall from the trees.

As her armor clashed with the trees, Erza commanded her comrades, "We have to catch up with Natsu. I don't like this feeling I'm getting from this forest. Something about it gives off an ominous vibe."

Gray ducked under a fallen branch, and responded, "If that flame head would slow down and think for a second we wouldn't be in this situation."

Lucy squeezed her way through the fallen branches. She couldn't focus on being mad at Natsu for leaving them behind. All she could focus on was the feeling that she had that he was in danger. Her skin began to crawl as the thought of Natsu being hurt crossed her mind. She forcefully shook her head to clear her mind, and thought to herself that they need to hurry so she could be back at her best friends' side.

~Outskirts of Summerset

Natsu crashed into ground and smoke and debris filled the air. Gildarts slowly paced his way towards the Dragon Slayer. Natsu slowly forced his way back to a standing position. He tried to focus his eyes on his opponent, but his vision was too blurry to clearly make out Gildarts.

Leaning over with his hands on his knees, Natsu panted to himself, "Man… I'm no match for him. He's on a whole new level than the Gildarts I fought on Tenrou. I have to fight with the intent to kill just to be able to survive."

Gildarts stopped pacing roughly five yards away from Natsu. His body emitted a dark aura that decayed the ground around him. His eyes glowed red as a smirk crossed his face. The fallen wizard lifted up an arm, and held out an open arm towards the Dragon Slayer. In a twisted, ominous voice, Gildarts spoke to Natsu, "You had your chance to stop me seven years ago Natsu Dragneel. You failed, and now this era will face Absolute Darkness. The final hour is nearly among us."

Natsu stood up straight, and wiped blood from his mouth. Natsu snarled back, "What do you mean the final hour?"

The fallen Gildarts' hand started to glow white, "The final demon of my infamous book, is about to awake. E.N.D will mark the inevitable end of this time. This is it for you Natsu Dragneel. Crush Magic, Spirit Breaker."

A gust of wind pulsated from Gildarts' hand, and flashed its way towards Natsu. The pulse crashed into the Dragon Slayer and the ground broke to several pieces as smoke filled the air. Above the smoke cloud, was Happy who was carrying Natsu.

Natsu's hands combusted into flames, "Happy now!"

Happy flew in a circle, and launched Natsu towards Gildarts.

"There's too much at stake for me to lose! When I get my hands on you Zeref I'm going to rip you to shreds. No one uses my friends as puppets! Flame-Lightning mode!"

Natsu's full body became engulfed in flames, and sparks of lightning circled his body.

Gildarts cocked his fist back as it started to glow white, "Crush Magic".

Natsu crashed down into Gildarts, and smoke and debris exploded into the air as Happy was sent flying away. The smoke slowly cleared, and a crater became visible with Gildarts lying on his back at the bottom. Natsu floated in the air above him with his body still cloaked in his Flame-Lightning mode.

The air around Natsu began to swirl as he sucked in the air around him, "Roar of the Flame-Lightning Dragon!"

A funnel made its way from Natsu's mouth into Gildarts. The crater expanded as the Dragon Roar sent the outskirts of the city a blaze. The screams of pain from Gildarts echoed through the vacated city.

Natsu landed on the ground outside of the crater, and fell to his knees. As the fire sizzled down, Happy landed next to his partner, "Natsu are you alright."

Struggling to speak between pants, Natsu responded, "Yeah… I'm just about out of magic though."

Lucy reached the end of the forest to see Natsu on his hands and knees. Her heart pounded in her chest as she sprinted towards her partner, "Natsu!"

The Dragon Slayer turned his head, and say Lucy running towards him. Relief overcame his body as the one person he wanted to see approached him.

Erza jumped out from the forest, and shouted out "Lucy! Natsu! Get down!"

Lucy stopped running, and turned her attention to the sky. Gildarts floated above the group with both of his arms extended. The fallen wizard began to laugh hysterically, "Salamander, did you think that would be enough to defeat the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail? At least you're all gathered in one play so I can end this swiftly." The black aura around Gildarts hanged to white and red. His hands started to pulsate white. "Crush Magic, Continental Break!"

The ground began to glow white as beams of light broke through the ground. Gray slid in front of Erza and slammed his hands to the ground, "Ice Make Floor!"

Natsu grabbed Happy and launched him into the air. He then turned to Lucy and jumped towards her. Embracing her in his arms, he cloaked the two of them in his Fire-Lightning mode. The ground glowed fully white to a point to where it was blinding to the eye.

Lucy called out into Natsu's ear as she embraced him back, "Natsu! I'm scared!"

The ground began to break apart, and the air became stagnant. The calm before the storm had approached. The strongest spell of the strongest Fairy Tail wizard had Natsu and Lucy in its clutches.

Natsu tightened his grip on his best friend, "Don't be scared Lucy, I lo.."

The ground exploded upwards as a pillar of light broke through the ground, and extended to the sky.

~That's it for this chapter! I promise I will get back to more sluff soon haha. I just have to advance the story a little bit more! Please leave a review, follow, and favorite the story! Like always, thanks for reading and I will update probably by the middle of next week, and again next weekened!


	8. Chapter 7- Dragon Slayers

~Next Chapter! I am so freaking sorry for not posting for so long ! I'm back on the grind and the story is not over! I will be posting frequently again! Again I am so sorry for not posting!

Chapter 7- Dragon Slayers

~Dirt Path between Sabretooth and Summerset

The sun had set from the sky, and only the stars lit the night sky. The moon was absent from the starry night. The dirt road was surrounded by tall trees, while they're leaves and branches hovered above. The sound of footsteps echoed through the empty forest.

Levy kept a few paces behind Gajeel as the two pushed on towards the locations of Natsu's team. The pair had left Laxus to subdue the fallen Dragon Slayers. Levy knew that Gajeel didn't want to run away from a good fight, but he had to because of her. She looked to the ground, and began to feel as if she was holding Gajeel back yet again.

Gajeel stopped in his tracks, and turned his head back towards Levy, "You've been fidgeting around back there for too long. If somethings wrong just spill it."

Levy rapidly shook her head and waved her hands in a fashion to signify that she was fine. In a meek voice, she replied, "No it's nothing… It's just that I feel like I'm holding you back."

Gajeel sighed and paced his way towards Levy. He bent over so that the pair were on eye level with each other. He grabbed onto of her hands that she was still holding up, and closed his eyes. He moved his head over so that he could whisper into her ear. In a musky, rough voice, he whispered "Look, you're doing anything wrong. It's me. I just can't not protect you. I would try to explain it, but you wouldn't get it. It's a dragon slayer thing."

Levy's cheeks burned read to the point where she wouldn't be surprised if they started steaming. The bluenette mumbled out in-between pants, "What…do you mean…a Dragon Slayer…thing?"

Gajeel sat up and rubbed the back of his head, "Look, I'm sure you've already noticed that Dragon Slayers aren't exactly like normal people. But, there's one thing about us that completely separates us from all other people. Not only do we use Dragon Magic, we also take on the personality traits of Dragons. To be exact, Dragon Slayers are extremely territorial. We don't like anyone going near our stuff. We don't like leaving our stuff alone, and we damn sure don't like when someone puts our stuff in danger."

Levy put her hands behind her back, and started to rock between her heels and her toes. She looked away and nearly whispered, "Um… Gajeel… Are you saying… that you're territorial… when it comes to me?"

Gajeel nearly lost his footing and feel to the ground. Looking away from his companion, Gajeel mumbled, "I'm not trying to say anything, so just drop it. Let's get going. We need to regroup with Salamander and the others."

The Iron Dragon Slayer turned away from Levy, and continued to walk down the dark path. He heard Levy giggle behind him, and simple grunted in response.

~Outskirts of Summerset

The forest had been completely obliterated. All that remained were the shattered trees, and the buildings of the city were broken down into bricks and stones and were scattered all around. The air was filled with an ominous aura.

Natsu broke out of a pile of debris, and stumbled as he slowly stood up. His vision was starting to become clear again, but his vision went blurry again as he was overtaken with fear. Where was Lucy?

The Dragon Slayer scanned the area, but he couldn't see his best friend. He sniffed the air, and made out her scent straight ahead of him. Natsu leaped at his top speed, and crash landed to the ground in front of a stack of fallen trees. He gripped the timber, and rapidly tossed them aside.

He finally tossed the last log aside. His breathing stopped as saw what was lying underneath the logs. The scent that he had picked up was one of Lucy's hair ribbons.

~Sorry for the chapter being so short! I just wanted to post what I had because it's been so long! Please keep following the story! And, as always, all reviews, comments, favorites, and followers are much appreciated!


	9. Chapter 8- Read Tear

~Next Chapter! Anyone else see the most recent Fairy Tail episodes? Freaking insane! And also, do any of y'all watch "Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?" Freaking great show! Anyways, as always, thank you for reading the story this far in! All reviews, follows, and favorites are very much appreciated, so pretty please do it . With no further wait, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 8- Red Tears

~Outside of the Sabretooth Guild Hall

The air was filled with a heavy black smoke. The scent of ashes was being spread throughout by a gentle breeze. The once proud Guild Hall of Sabretooth, was now laid to waste and set a blaze. The feared Twin Dragons walked away from the blaze.

Rouge's hand was firmly gripped against a defeated Laxus's shirt, as he dragged the Lightning Dragon Slayer along the ground. As the shadow Dragon Slayer paced forward away from the guild hall, he left behind a trail of blood that was pouring from Laxus.

Walking next to Rouge, Sting came to a stop and looked into the sky. "Rouge, Laxus will soon awaken as one of the Fallen. The time is approaching for mankind's defeat. The world of wizards will no idea of what hit them when E.N.D. awakens."

~ Outskirts of Summerset

The sun was beginning to peer over the horizon line. Slowly, the battle field of Natsu and Gildarts became illuminated. The Dragon Slayer stayed up throughout the night fighting was through building debris, and shattered forestry. Hours and hours of pounding away through the destruction had proven pointless to the Salamander. He still had been unable to find his best friend, Lucy.

Natsu's knees crashed to the ground, and his head was resting in his hands. His body began to shake as he failed to fight back the tears that began to race down his face. His hands gripped his hair, and he was on the verge of tearing out his pink spikes.

Now sobbing, the Dragon Slayer whispered to himself, "I promised…. I promised her I would keep her safe… Now… Now she could be dead. I'm going… to kill you Zeref…. Not only… Not only do you turn my friend Gildarts against me….But you also did this to Lucy…. I'm going to kill you…"

Natsu's trail of thought snapped, as he picked up a familiar scent. It was non-other than his feline companion Happy. Natsu stood up and rubbed his forearm across his face to wipe away his tears. Closing his eyes, the Salamander was able to clearly hear Happy calling out for him. The sound was from behind him. Quickly, he turned away and sprang towards the direction of the sound.

While being slightly injured, Happy was hovering above the ground. His eyes were filled with tears that were on the verge of overflowing. His wings ached from the countless hours of searching for any of his friends, but he had no luck. A full night of searching high and low failed to provide the exceed of the whereabouts of his Guild Mates.

Happy called out once more, with his last ounce of hope on the line, "Natsu! Where are you?!"

The Exceed came to a stop when he heard a crashing sound behind him. Happy turned around to see Natsu smiling behind him while standing on top of a broken pile of logs. "Natsu!"

Happy flew into Natsu's arms while tears of joys fell from the two friends. The initial happiness from seeing Happy had faded, and Natsu knew he still had to find Lucy. Even if she was no longer breathing…

In a deep stern voice, Natsu asked, "Happy, have you seen Lucy?"

The Exceed descended to the ground, and his wings vanished, "Nope. I've been looking all night for everyone. I haven't found a trace of Lucy, Gray, or Erza."

"I don't think we need to worry about Erza. I heard her reequip into her Purgatory Armor before the blast hit. She'll turn up soon. And I'm sure Gray will be fine. That looser better have not let that attack finish him off. But, we need to find Lucy. I can't pick up on her scent of anything."

Happy began to think. Why couldn't Natsu pick up Lucy's scent? Even if the worst possible outcome had come to her, he would still be able to smell her. The only time Natsu couldn't smell people was when they weren't there. Weren't there. "Natsu! What if Horologium came to save her! If she was inside of him this whole time it would explain why you can't pick up on her scent! Try seeing if you can smell Horologium out!"

Natsu simply nodded and closed his eyes. Alright, Horologium as an off smell, but this whole area has a weird stench from Gildarts attack. In the distance, Natsu heard something pop. Shortly after, Lucy's scent swept across his nose. "Happy let's go! I think Horologium just ran out of magic, because I can smell Lucy now! Let's go!"

Happy's wings sprung from his back, and he lifted Natsu into the air, "Aye Sir!"

Natsu pointed towards the horizon line for Happy to follow. After blazing through the air at the top speed that Happy could move at, Natsu tapped on his paw, and the Exceed let Natsu onto the ground.

As his legs slammed to the ground, and dust filled the air, Natsu sniffed the air which was filled with the sweet scent of Lucy. Digging his feet into the ground, Natsu plunged straight ahead towards a pile of fallen trees.

Natsu came to a stop, and gazed at the figure before him. Lucy was sitting down with her back resting against a log. Her arm had a deep gash across it, but she seemed alright to the Dragon Slayer. Between heavy breathes, he called out to her, "L…Lucy?"

The blonde slowly lifted her head and met Natsu's gaze. "Natsu… Thank goodness you're alive." Lucy's large brown orbs began to water up, and tears slowly tricked down her face. She forced herself to stand up, and her body wobbled on her weak legs. Before she could walk towards Natsu, he had already closed the distance between the two and had embraced her tightly in his arms.

Natsu clenched his eyes shut as tears began to form on his eyelashes. He pulled Lucy as close to his body as possible. His warmth touched Lucy's heart, and she sobbed into his chest as.

Slightly louder than a whisper, Natsu spoke into Lucy's ear, "I don't want to ever feel like I lost you again." Lucy simply nodded into Natsu's bare chest.

Walking up behind Lucy, and tugging on her leg, Happy questioned, "Aye Lucy. What happened to your shirt?"

Lucy pulled away from Natsu, and looked herself over. Her shirt was torn open down to her stomach, and her white bra was doing a poor job at covering her breasts. Her face burned as it turned red. Her eyes moved away from her body to look at Natsu. The Dragon Slayers mouth was open, and his eyes were glued onto her cleavage. His eyes moved up, to meet Lucy's eyes. Natsu rapidly shoot his head, and waved his arms out in front of him.

"Uh Lucy um. I um. Oh I know what to do so that I won't stare!"

Natsu reached out with both of his arms and spread open his hands. He gently covered Lucy's exposed cleavage with his hands and simply smiled at her. "See problem solved!"

Lucy cocked back her arm, and slapped Natsu with all his might. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU DUMMY!" Lucy turned her body away from Natsu, and Natsu noticed something on Lucy's neck.

Natsu stopped rubbing his cheek, and spoke in a monotone serious manner, "Lucy, what's on your neck?"

Lucy turned back towards Natsu, being sure to cover her violated breasts. With her face still being red from embarrassment, she replied, "Wait, there's something on my neck?"

Happy took flight to examine her neck for himself, "Hmmm, it looks like a red tear drop that's embedded into your skin, with some bruising and teeth marks around it. Did someone bite you Lucy?"

Natsu and Lucy shared a brief second of eye contact, and they both looked away from each other. The events of their passionate night raced through their minds. Natsu began to scratch the back of his head, and Lucy drew circles into the ground with her foot. Happy looked at the two, and struggled to see what had made them so uncomfortable.

Natsu cleared his throat, and walked towards Lucy, "Luce, there's something on your neck. Right next to… um, yeah."

Lucy pushed her hair aside to fully expose her neck to Natsu, "Well what is it?"

Natsu reached out and touched the red tear drop. Dragon Scaled began to form on his skin immediately after contact. As he pulled away, the Dragon scales vanished.

Looking at Natsu in confusion, Lucy asked, "What did you do to me Natsu?"

~There's chapter 8! Sorry for it being a little shorter than a couple of previous chapters, but I'm working on getting back into the full grove of writing again. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I'll be sure to respond to all my reviews soon! Thanks for the continued support!


	10. Chapter 9- Wishing on a Star

~Thanks so much for all the reviews and favorites! Here's the next chapter!

Chapter 9- Wishing on a Star

~Outskirts of Summerset

Erza's arm was gripping firmly around Gray as she helped him walk. As they walked in sync, Gray would wince in pain as his injured leg would graze the ground. Erza's vision would occasionally become blurred, but she forced herself to will through it for the sake of her injured comrade.

Between winces, Gray spoke out to Erza, "I knew Gildarts was strong, but this… He destroyed a whole city with one attack. Not even my ice shield, or your shields could partially repel his attacks. To make matters worse… Lucy and Natsu were directly in front of the blast Gildarts made. If were in this bad of shape, they're probably not doing too hot."

Fighting to keep her vision straight, Erza replied, "Natsu and Lucy are very resourceful when it counts. I'm positive that they're alright. But, Gildarts… I've fought alongside of him before, and even though he's stronger than myself, he's never been out of my league. That power that he displayed it wasn't his. Whatever was affecting him, also amplified his magic power to new extremes."

"Well, ugh, whatever it was that gave him that freakish strength, there has to be a weakness or a counter to it."

Erza helped the limping Gray walk alongside of herself as she replayed the events of Gildarts over and over in her head. "Gray, it's possible that Gildarts could have had an encounter with Zeref prior to us arriving. If Gildarts were to fall under some form of mind control or manipulation that amplified his power with black magic that would explain his actions, and uncanny strength."

"If that is the case then where do we go from there? It's not like we can overpower him to subdue him."

A small smirk appeared on Erza's face, "We don't have to overpower Gildarts. Manipulation magic, as well as mind control magic, have the same weakness. The potency of the spell depend directly on the time of the spell's activation. Manipulation spells don't activate immediately. They have a time delay depending on how close the caster is to them while the manipulation takes root. Also, the longer the manipulation lasts, the weaker it becomes."

"Alright, we need to find Natsu and Lucy and get our counter attack ready."

~Outskirts of Summerset near a pile of logs

The celestial mage stared intently at her best friend, with her hands covering her exposed cleavage. Natsu stood mere feet away from her, but he remained silent while his face showed nothing but bewilderment.

Growing slightly irritated, Lucy slammed her foot onto the ground, "Natsu! I said, what did you do to me!"

Natsu gulped, and began to slowly make way towards Lucy. He came to a slow stop a few inches away from her. Natsu placed his hand on her cheek, and she began to burn red. Slowly, Natsu traced the frame of her cheek down to her neck, then stopped over the location of his bite mark on her. As his hand covered the bite mark, Lucy felt every cell in her body shiver. She couldn't understand what it was. She started to have a hard time breathing, and found herself to embarrassed to look Natsu in the eyes.

The sound of Natsu's voice knocked Lucy out of her trans like state, "Lucy… Your neck feels hot… It feels the same as my fire…"

With her face redder than the richest of reds, she looked up into Natsu's eyes, "Well… What does that mean?"

"I think I know… But, you're probably not gonna like it."

"Why do you assume I'm not going to like it?

Natsu removed his hand from Lucy's neck, and she was able to relax again. He reached his hand up to his cheek, and used his index finger to awkwardly scratch at his cheek. He slowly began to blush, and Lucy couldn't but smile at seeing Natsu like this.

The Dragon Slayer's eyes scanned the sky as he tried to find the words to say. "Well um, Lucy… You see um…"

Natsu's eyes quickly darted to the left, and he turned his body in the direction of the scents he was picking up.

Lucy jumped back, "Don't move all fast like that when you're so close to me Natsu!"

A smile spread across his face, "Come on Lucy, Happy, let's go! I just picked up on Gray and Erza!"

Natsu embraced Lucy's hand within his own, and began to race towards the direction of his guild members' scent. Lucy's heart began to pound viscously as the excitement of running hand in hand with her best friend overtook her.

~Soon after

Erza finished tying a knot of cloth from Gray's shirt around his leg to cover his bleeding wound. The ice mage winced slightly as Erza finished the knot.

Wiping her forehead, the for head spoke, "Alright, that should be sufficient enough to stop the bleeding as long as you don't re open the wound."

Gray forced himself off the ground, and was fighting to stay standing without Erza's help. "I'll be fine with this. Something like this won't slow me down for much longer."

Coming from a short distance, the two wizards could hear a voice calling out, "Gray! Erza! Hold on I'm coming!"

Erza and Gray turned their attention towards the direction of the voice, and simultaneously said, "That's Natsu!"

Natsu, with Lucy's hand still in his, along with Happy flying above, came into their field of vision; each with smiles plastered across their faces as their team had become reunited.

~That night

The Fairy Tail wizards sat gathered around a fire that had been ignited by Natsu. The flames danced into the blacked sky, as the shades of red, orange, and yellow merged and faded away. The snapping of twigs echoed throughout the wasteland.

With Lucy's head resting on his shoulder, Natsu called out, "So you're saying that once the potency of the control based magic wears down, we should be able to apprehend Gildarts?"

With her arms and legs crossed, sitting opposite side of the flames of Natsu, Erza nodded her head in agreement. "That's exactly what I'm saying. However, as long as the spell is even partially active, we will still have a hard time trying to apprehend Gildarts."

Gray, lying down with his back facing the fire, spoke out, "Even if we are able to beat Gildarts, how are we supposed to free him from the mind control?"

Lucy leaned her head up, and Natsu shivered as her hair brushed against his shoulder. She responded, "Before we head out towards Gildarts tomorrow, I could summon Grandpa Crux. I'm more than confident that he can find an answer for how to cancel mind control."

Gray turned his head to glance at Lucy over his shoulder. In a stern voice he brought up another question, "And what if he's still too strong, or what if the caster of the mind control closes the distance between themselves and Gildarts? All it took was one area base attack to take us all out."

Without making eye contact with anyone, Natsu responded, "I've felt the attack once already. I'm used to it."

Gray turned his attention towards Natsu, "And what is that supposed to mean fire breath?"

"Exactly what it sounds like ice freak. I'm used to it. That area attack isn't the same as Gildarts's normal crush magic. There was an explosion element added to it. If I were to be aware of that the first time he hit with it, I could've ate the explosion. Based on my fight with Gildarts, that area based attack is the only attack that can hit all of us at once."

Erza opened her eyes and starred at Natsu. Speaking in a calm and stern voice, she responded, "Are you sure of this Natsu? If you can eat that spell that Gildarts used we can develop a strategy based on that."

Without breaking his serious monotone voice, the Dragon Slayer responded, "Yeah, I'm positive. Let's get our plan ready tomorrow. I'm sick of talking about Gildarts like he's our enemy."

Gray rolled over, and turned his gaze away from his guild mates, "Fine with me. Saying it's been a long day would be an understatement. I'm going to call it night."

Erza nodded her head, and replied, "Agreed. It has been a very long day, Natsu, Lucy, you two should get some rest as well."

Lucy look up at Natsu from his shoulder, and softly asked, "Are you tired Natsu?"

Natsu stood up, and Lucy nearly feel from not having anything to catch her weight. Quickly turning around so that his face was hidden, he spoke out, "No I'm not tired. I'm going to go for a walk or something. You should get some rest though Lucy."

Happy turned away from the fish he was eating, and watched his friend walk away. "Natsu…"

Natsu slowly faded into the darkness of the night until he faded from Lucy's vision. As she sat on her log, Erza called out to her, "Lucy, you should go check on him. I know he's physically fine, but I can see that he's emotionally hurt from his fight with Gildarts. I know personally what it's like to have someone you truly care about fight against you with the intention to kill you."

Erza looked towards the ground, and Lucy spoke out, "Erza…"

The red head gently shook her head, "I'm fine. Really, I am. But, I'm sure that Natsu is going to be waiting for you to check on him so you should go."

Happy also encouraged Lucy to follow the Dragon Slayer, "Aye, go check on him Lucy! I would go but I think I'm going to explode from this fish."

~A few minutes away from the camp fire

Natsu was lying down on a patch of grass just a short distance outside of the wasteland that had been born of the decimated city of Summerset. No lights from any cities, no sounds of any talking, only the sound of the footsteps of the one person he wanted to see echoed into his ears. The nearer her footsteps became, the calmer he started to feel. The vision of Gildarts raising his arm to kill him, was burned into his mind. A knot had been tied in his stomach knowing that Zeref had gotten to his friend before he could get there to protect him. His body slowly tensed as his stomach began to burn with hatred for Zeref. Not only Tenrou island, but now as well. Natsu truly hated Zeref.

Just as his hatred was about to burst free, the voice of the one person he wanted to be with called out to him, "Natsu…"

The Dragon Slayer sat up, and saw Lucy standing in front of him, "Oh, hey Lucy."

Sitting down next to Natsu, she asked, "So, are you alright Natsu."

Natsu leaned back, and his pink spikes collided with the ground. He closed his eyes as the scent of the forest grazed over his nose along the gentle breeze. He let out a small sigh as his chest rose and fell, "Yeah, I'm fine Luce. I just want to get away from all of this constant crap."

Lucy lied down alongside of Natsu, and her shoulders were now pushing up against Natsu's. She rested her arms along the length of her body. She gazed up at the sky, and admired the start-illuminated night sky. "Yeah, I get what you mean. It's almost like since we've gotten back from Tenrou Island we've been constantly having to fight to stay alive."

Natsu uncrossed his arms off of his chest, and placed them at his side. His hand gently landed on top of Lucy's, but he didn't bother to move it. Feeling her hand so close to his made him feel at peace. "Luce, don't you ever wish that we could just get away? And leave all of this behind us?"

Lucy turned her hand against the grass so that her palm was lying flat with Natsu's hand on top of hers. With her cheeks red, she replied, "Do you really mean that Natsu?"

He slowly turned his hand so that the back of his hand was facing towards the night sky. With his palm resting on Lucy's, he slowly intertwined his fingers with hers and grasped her hand. "I do. Did you hear what I was about to tell you before we were hit by Gildarts's attack?"

"Yeah, well at least most of it. I didn't get a chance to hear you finish saying what you were going to say though."

"Oh, well I want you to hear it Luce. So um… I was going to say that I Lov…"

Lucy gripped Natsu's hand with all of her feelings intact and placed her head against her shoulder. "I know Natsu… and I do too."

The two lied in silence. The only sounds were the in sync beats of their hearts, and their nervous breathing. They were each too embarrassed to look at each other, so they settled for gazing at the stars. A single star trailed across the sky, leaving a tail behind it.

Lucy's soft voice broke the silence, "Have you ever made a wish upon a shooting star?"

"Nope, is that a thing now?"

"Mhm. If you make a wish when you see a shooting star it's supposed to come true."

Natsu followed the shooting star with his eyes as it slowly faded. "Lucy, what do you wish for?"

"hmmm. I wish that we could stay like this, and be how we are right now forever… What about you?"

"I didn't wish for anything. I already have the most important thing in my possession… That mark on your neck Luce… That's because I claimed you for myself."

~Sorry that chapter took so long! I'll try to respond to all the reviews ASAP! I hope this chapter clarified some questions! Just to be clear, yes, Zeref's spell does make those affected become stronger; that's why Laxus lost. Also, the longer the spell is active, and the farther away Zeref is from those affected, the weaker the affected become. Lastly, yes, Natsu did claim Lucy! One more thing, does anyone keep up with the anime? So intense right now! Thanks for reading! Please follow, favorite, review, and keep reading! Thank you all so much! Next Chapter coming soon!


	11. Chapter 10- True Nature (Part 1)

~Wow, over one Year! Anyways, I got my laptop back, and I'm back to fan fiction! This chapter is very short because it's a recovered file from my hard drive, but I'll post the finished version in a few hours. I just wanted to post something so that you could all know that I'm back! Btw, I am so sorry for the absence, please forgive me senpai!

Chapter 10- True Nature (Part 1)

~Grass field outside of dismantled city, Summerset

Lucy looked up at her partner with confusion written all over her face, "Huh? What did you say Natsu?"

Realizing that he had yet to explain to Lucy what the mark on her neck meant, he prepared himself for the explanation. Taking in a deep breath, he answered, "Luce… Dragon Slayers are kind of different than normal people."

With a small trace of sarcasm in her voice, Lucy replied, "I kind of knew that since the first time I saw you eat fire."

"That's not what I mean Luce. I'm still not completely sure how it all works for Dragon Slayers. Igneel never finished explaining it to me when I was a kid, so I have to rely on what Gajeel tells me."

"You're not sure of how what works Natsu?"

Pulling his partner closer to his, he replied, "Choosing a mate."

Lucy's face burned red, "What do you mean by a mate?"

"Well, Dragon Slayers have more traits that are similar to dragons beside physical appearance. We also have to animal tendencies that they do as well. That's why "mark" or bite people we want to claim as our mate. I wasn't too sure on how exactly to do it, but Gajeel says that it happens in the heat of the moment."

"So… a few nights ago when you were in room, you were trying to claim me as your mate?"

Natsu scratched his cheek as he tried to find the right words to say. "Well, at first that wasn't my plan…but, when I started thinking about losing you, it burned the inside of my body. So I wanted to claim you, but I just didn't know how."

With a strong sense of concern in her voice, the blonde answered, "So you just bit me to see where it went?"

"Well, no not really. After my Dragon Force came out, everything started to get real blurry. It got really hard to think and see. All I could smell was you, and it was driving me crazy. Then it felt like I couldn't control myself anymore, and that's when it happened."

The next few seconds felt like hours to the celestial mage. Did this mean that Natsu actually saw her as more than just a guild mate? She heard several stories from her friends in the guild about guys who would have "one night stands" with them and think nothing of it. But, Natsu wouldn't fall into that category right?

Lucy decided there was only one way to answer her question, "Natsu… what do you think of me as?"

~Finished chapter coming in "part 2" in a few hours! Like always, any likes comments, favorites, follows and reviews are appreciated! Also, I started a "Sword Art Online" fanfic called "A Twist in their Story". It's a Kirito x Sinon Fanfic, so if you're interested, check it out!


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